Settings / Genres etc. ???

[Olibarro]

I have this system of rules and mechanics.... which is meant to be  flexible and mutable, permitting different styles of play....
yet, would it be considered as altering the system/mechanics/rules if for this setting I have it that Cahracters will need to make roles against "presence" and "will", , where as in other settings, this won't be neccessary?
Is that considered as altering the mechanics, or is it just another version of using strength to lift heavy things, and will to resist, and presence to force back non-manifested entities etc.?

I don't know if I quite follow your question. It seems to me that if your mechanics/rules have a good solid core, then this is just adapting that same set of mechanics to suit the game/genre at hand.

There is no true "universal" rules-set in that no single set of rules can cover all possible situations and represent them well in every case. But a good mechanic can be easily adapted from one genre to another, and hopefully in such a way that characters, items, and rules in any particular setting are easily recognized and translated by any other setting built from that same core.

[DevP]

Of course, don't be *afraid* of making rules specific for this setting, if you love this setting and it wants to go in its own directions. Creative urges can be uncompromising like that.

Firstly.... why do people insist that all things have been previously conceived..... surely not..... it's just that none of US have come up with something NEW..... YET!!!!!

I cannot honestly believe people really think it isn't possible/likely to generate something new....... be it mechanic, rule or material...... there must be something..... (how about a resoloution mechanic based on what colour socks players are wearing and the size of their waist.... bet that hasn't been used before!  LOL see, it can be done!)

Seriously though... it's a little disheartening to see people say things like that when we're all meant to be creative!
PLEASE BE MORE POSITIVE.... it's not
"NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN!"
it should be....
"NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN, YET, BUT MAYBE IN ABOUT 5 MINUTES or SO!"

I think you sort of got the wrong thing. I mean, I think that getting truly, fundamentally 100% new stuff is very hard, and very rare. Moreover, things that are new for the sake of being new aren't necessarily worth it. (I mean, are you going to play "Socks: the RPG!!!" Very iffy, I'd say.) I'm trying to prevent future disheartening thoughts by laying all down: it's not that often that you come up with something that someone else hasn't tried, so don't go in expecting that you're going to be bleeding edge.

But here's the happy ending: You don't need to be new all the time. You just have to be good. Just like you don't need cutting edge novel mechanics all the time, so much as you need solid ones that work just right for your creative vision. Similarly, just make an idea that is "good" and feels right to you.

I made those comments because I was concerned about Olibarro's comment ("taking wind from sails", etc.) If you have your own creative vision, even if its not 100% novel, then you ought to follow through with it!

how keen are people on RPG's where there is a strong chance of dying, fairly quickly.... or suffering herendously most of the time?

I'm not masochist, but I think "good" guys ought to suffer, since that's often the point of being the good guy (and making tough choices). As for actual death? Well, the one hangup is that you have to remake characters, or be left out. And making new characters means (a) you can't get as esconced into the mindset of a single character, and (b) it might be time consuming to make new characters all the time.

About (b): if you're going for high and uncompromising deathrates, you need a system that helps you make a new character (accept that some people will probably make new ones most every ession), and helps you do it QUICKLY, while giving you lots of roleplaying "hooks" so you can slip right into character.

About (a): You want to prevent players from just treating their temporary characters as "meat puppets", sort of pushing them around to achieve Player goals rather than Character goals. (They call that Pawn stance, and I guess you could see why.) As an example the Paranoia RPG is lot's of fun, and there's a high deathrate, but as a consquence you don't feel deeply attached to the characters themselves.